Shortcuts Actions

The Shortcuts actions in Canvases can be used to update the data or appearance of a canvas, show a canvas inside a shortcut, create or edit canvases with intelligence, and build children from templates.

These actions are useful when a canvas should react to something outside the app. For example, Shortcuts can update a progress ring after you log water, refresh a chart every morning, or show a canvas as part of a larger shortcut flow.

Choose an Action

If you want to…	Use
Update the data or appearance of a canvas	Update View
Build grid children from templates	Create View from Template
Change a view created from a template	Update View Created from Template
Show a canvas while a shortcut is running	Show Canvas
Create a new canvas from a prompt	Create Canvas
Change an existing canvas from a prompt	Edit Canvas

Use Update View for exact changes, and use Create Canvas or Edit Canvas when the change should come from a prompt.

For example, a morning shortcut might fetch today’s weather, update a text view, update a chart view, and then show the canvas so you can check it.

Use Create View from Template when a shortcut needs to build many grid children from templates, such as calendar days, task rows, or schedule items. Collect the created views in a list and set the grid’s Children property to that list with Update View.